I'm having a hard time with the Blue 70.
I love it. I swam faster than I deserved to in it (I bought it until it ripped, then returned), and I had fun swimming faster again!
My question/statement is this:
It is more than obvious from my own experience, and MANY swimmers I've talked to, that you drop at least 3 seconds per 50 in any event wearing this suit. I know that last year I swam a morning race and went 38 without the suit, put one on and swam the same event and went 35. I sure as heck didn't taper in an hour! And I can't remember dropping 3 seconds in a 50 in recent decades.
Highly respected "people" in USMS that I have had conversations with say it is undoubtedly "legalized cheating". I agree. I'm not quite sure how or why FINA approved it. (And I'm not saying it should be banned. It is what it is.) But when a SUIT improves performance it is no longer necessarily the swimmer achieving those times.
My hubby brought up the cost as well. (I have a suit fund going, so we don't have to shell out $400 all at once, if I even buy one.) It definitely separates the haves from the have nots. There are many more Masters Swimmers who cannot afford this suit than those who can. Several of my teammates would love one but can't afford it. And while this may be more a "social" question, it is still a factor in our swimming races.
My thought, as I was looking at recent results was this: Because the B70 is such a factor in racing performance, I would love to see some kind of a notation (notice I didn't say the dreaded Barry Bonds asterisk!) next to results of swimmers who wear a B70 in a race. Or have a B70 division for all results? We already have a wetsuit division for OW, why not have a B70 division for pool races? (It is almost a wetsuit anyway!)
This past weekend I watched an already elite swimmer wear a B70 and annhilate their already super fast times. If I were a swimmer from another part of the country, I'd be thinking, "Good God, how much faster can they get?" When if fact they aren't necessarily much faster, they are now wearing a B70.
When is technology too much?
2cents
Karen
This past weekend I watched an already elite swimmer wear a B70 and annihilate their already super fast times.
I know people love to wear, and to hype, their B70s, but the effect really is not that dramatic. For instance, according to the records page on this web site, Laura Val had swum a 5:29 in the 500 in March 2007. Last Sunday, in a B70, she swam a 5:27. (Last year at the same meet, in a FS1 I think, she swam a 5:32.) Two seconds in a 500 is not "annihilating" the previous time. I myself swam three seconds faster in the 500 this year than last year, and Jana Matena swam one second faster this year than last year, and neither Jana nor I wore B70s. Laura swam faster this year than last year in the 200, too, but still 2 seconds slower than her national record from May 2007.
I am sure it's a sweet suit and faster than a workout bikini, but it's not fins or an outboard motor.
This past weekend I watched an already elite swimmer wear a B70 and annihilate their already super fast times.
I know people love to wear, and to hype, their B70s, but the effect really is not that dramatic. For instance, according to the records page on this web site, Laura Val had swum a 5:29 in the 500 in March 2007. Last Sunday, in a B70, she swam a 5:27. (Last year at the same meet, in a FS1 I think, she swam a 5:32.) Two seconds in a 500 is not "annihilating" the previous time. I myself swam three seconds faster in the 500 this year than last year, and Jana Matena swam one second faster this year than last year, and neither Jana nor I wore B70s. Laura swam faster this year than last year in the 200, too, but still 2 seconds slower than her national record from May 2007.
I am sure it's a sweet suit and faster than a workout bikini, but it's not fins or an outboard motor.
